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1.9.08

I'm getting tired of the struggle...

Our boys are adopted (they are half brothers, too) and we home school. David is going to be 18 this month. Jared just turned 13. Our concern is with Jared.

I'm getting tired of the struggle. I'm not sure what to do other than grounding for these behaviour problems. I work from home (I am a software developer) so I'm here to overlook things 24 hours per day.

A couple of times in the past week he has been grounded but has ran out of the house anyway. When he comes back (in about an hour) he just says he went for a walk. One time was during school hours so I know he didn't go to his friend's house because his friend wasn't home. I wouldn't be able to catch him. I'm 52. And even if I did, what would I do? I've thought about calling the police department and informing them. Maybe if they picked him up and brought him home that would put a scare into him to not do this any more.

I'm planning on seeing another counselor this week.

Other things he does in regards to the ODD: He makes noises or has his headphones up too loud disturbing others, and sometimes you can tell it is intentional. He does have a hard time sitting still. He is always leaning back in his chair and we constantly have to tell him to put it down before he breaks it. It will get up and prance thru the house once in awhile slapping the tops of the door frames (sounds more like ADHD here). He can be irritating but we have always just took that as "that's Jared" and sort of shrugged it off.